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MWSA Review
Using interviews and documented history, the author successfully places the reader right in the middle of two specific days of this ten day battle. Written in present tense, this is such a fast paced story that the reader will catch himself reading faster and faster in an attempt to get a glimpse of what can possibly happen next. The true real life heroes that you feel you are right beside in the FO (Forward Observation) position are desperately hanging on to life as they perform their duties expertly in the most trying of times.
I appreciated the nearly absent use of offensive language throughout the book, but that didn't take anything away from the very clear image of the carnage and devastation all around them. By the time the enemy is walking on top of the FO (forward observation) bunker after they had overran the unit, the reader will wish he had a weapon at the ready.
This well written account deals with a part of the Korean War I knew nothing about. This is a good history lesson of ROK (Republic Of Korea) infantry being supported by US Artillery.
I believe any reader would enjoy this book; however those readers without some understanding of military terminology will find some difficulty keeping up. The reader will want to be armed with some Military phonetic knowledge before starting the book and then hang on to a hair raising, gripping and factual ride.
Reviewed by: Don Arndt (2010)
Author's Synopsis
The battle of White Horse lasted ten days, with many lives lost. This story concentrates on the first two days of the battle, as recounted by Joe Adams, Jack Callaway, and the rest from the 213th Field Artillery Battalion who were there. These two days coincide with the letters and personal remembrances of these men and this story is based on their real life experiences. The events and people are real, coming from those personal interviews, declassified documents and historical reference. What they went through is real, documented history. Not one of them has ever bragged about what they did or thought of themselves as some great warrior soldier. Everyone simply did what they had to do, and that there was no glory in it.
Not just another war story, this is an attempt to put the reader "there" in the thick it, to be a participant in battle and to feel what it was like to be in the Forgotten War. Exploding artillery shells, bullets striking targets, the eeriness of flares drifting down over a battlefield, breathing the dust of trenches on a hill in the middle of a far off place. Taking the reader out of their seat and putting a rifle in their hands, this story transports you a thousand miles away from your surroundings to an artillery battery receiving "incoming mail", trench lines where death is around every corner, and a bunker on a hill where some of the most violent combat takes place. This book lets you feel, taste and smell it like it was, brutal, unforgiving, and above all, a cold hard reality for those that were there.